


Thaw

by Weisse_Rose



Series: Saving Killian Jones (stand-alone h/c stories through the seasons) [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Cold, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Sharing Body Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 07:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5734822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weisse_Rose/pseuds/Weisse_Rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in 2x11. Hook never gets hit by the car. Instead, Gold punishes him for what he did to Belle. Emma come to the rescue, because that's what she does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Emma rubbed her gloved hands together. She wore a thick winter jacket, but she was still freezing. She didn't like it. It was much colder than she would have expected at this time of year and, knowing this town, there was probably some evil force or other behind it.

She was annoyed at herself for trodding through the freezing forest instead of having a nice cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon at home, preferably on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. The reason she was out in the cold was the damn pirate. He had to attack Belle of all people and now he was missing. It didn't take a detective to put two and two together. However, when questioned, Gold had claimed ignorance of the captain's whereabouts. 

Something about the way he had said though had made her suspicions. He mentioned that Hook was probably not in _town_ any longer and his inflection had let her to believe that he might be in the forest somewhere. If he was still alive. Emma trusted her instincts and this had been a strong one, but currently she was regretting it deeply. After all, the forest was quite big and if Gold had actually buried the body she was never going to find it. The thought that Hook might be dead gave her a strange guilty feeling, which was ridiculous. 

"Hook", she called again without much hope for an answer. She stumbled over a fallen branch in surprise when she heard a small moan in reply to her call.

"Hook?", she tried again. This time, there was a hoarse yell, which might have been "Over here."

She stumbled in the direction of the sound, then stopped short. This was certainly unexpected.

Hook was sitting against a tree, his right wrist bound by some sort of rope, the other end of which vanished into the ground next to him. What was surprising was that he was not wearing a shirt or shoes. The only item of clothing on him as far as she could see were his tight leather pants. He was shivering violently.

"What the hell?", she said as she slowly approached him.

"The d- d- Dark One thought to chain m- m- me in your l- l- lovely forest."

She eyed the rope disappearing into the ground suspiciously. Then her gaze was drawn to Hook's sword leaning against the tree. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"j- yeah, he left that for me. The r- r- rope can only be cut with magic. He left the sword s- saying I could always k- cut off my other hand if I didn't want to freeze to death. That's the k- k- crocodile's sense of humour." He smiled at her. It was one of the coldest and most hateful smiles she had seen in her life. She shivered.

Emma fished her phone out of her pocket and called David. He picked up almost immediately. Hook narrowed his eyes at her, clearly confused by what she was doing.

"David? Listen, I'm ... no, I'm fine ... yes. Gold trapped him in the forest with some enchanted rope. Can you figure out a way to cut through it? I'll stay with Hook, with the current temperatures he could freeze to death out here in no time ... yes ... we're about a mile north west of the abandoned farm ... you know the one with the well? ... thank you."

She hung up the phone and looked at Hook carefully, assessing his condition. His lips were blue and his gaze was slightly unfocussed, both not good signs.

With a sigh, she took off her nice warm jacket and draped it over him. He looked at her, the surprise written all over his face. She motioned for him to scoot away from the tree, which he did slowly, clearly confused about what she was doing.

She sat down behind him and draped her arms around him, under her jacket. She drew in a surprised gasp at how cold he felt. She felt him tense at the contact. 

"I n- n- knew you couldn't resist me for long."

Emma rolled her eyes, but she was actually glad about the cheap line. It meant he still had the energy to come up with them.

She carefully rested her head on his shoulder. Their cheeks were now touching and she was surprised again by how cold his face felt as well.

He gave an appreciative hum and turned slightly into the embrace. He mumbled something under his breath.

She could feel him drawing his arms over hers, clumsily trying to intertwine the fingers of their right hands. He had probably lost most of the feeling in his remaining hand already. Emma let him be, thinking it was probably good to warm his fingers, as there was a chance he could lose them to the cold. 

He suddenly drew his legs up. She moved the jacket to place it over them as well. He was silent for a long time, his breath coming out in small puffs in the cold air.

He continued to tremble and his skin still felt ice-cold under her touch. She was starting to seriously worry about him. It seemed like he was drowsing off and she vaguely remembered something about trying to keep people suffering from hypothermia awake.

"Are you ready to admit that attacking Belle was a really bad idea?" 

He only gave a dissenting rumble low in his throat.

"How did you think that would turn out exactly?"

He turned his head further towards her and opened his eyes. He was very close and she could almost feel the cold fire burning in his eyes.

"I thought it w- would hurt the crocodile in the same way he hurt me." He stared at her and there was so much pain and hatred in his eyes that she had to look away.

"You know Belle is a really nice girl. A really nice, _innocent_ girl and you hurt her."

Hook shifted slightly as if he didn't like to be reminded of that.

She didn't know what else to say and another silence settled between them. Emma started to feel the cold. She leaned back against the tree, feeling exhausted. Hook, drowsy again, followed the small movement and snuggled closer into the embrace. Emma was fairly certain that pirates were not supposed to snuggle, but there was really no other word for what he was doing. He made a satisfied humming noise, already half-asleep. Out of nowhere, Emma wondered when he had been held like this for the last time. It was certainly not something she could connect with her image of Captain Hook.

She suddenly realized with horror that her left hand had somehow wandered up his body and was currently stroking his hair in slow soothing movements. Shocked at herself, she drew it back in a sharp movement, resulting in a grumbled complaint from Hook.

 _What are you doing?_ He was a dangerous man and she should be treading carefully, instead of feeling this strange surge of affection for him. Who cares when he had been held last? That was none of her concern. He had attacked Belle and she had to protect her town from him, not the other way around.

She resolved not to think about him any further. She was merely trying to save his life. They were not cuddling.

* * *

"Emma?"

She was relieved when she heard David's voice in the distance. She let go of Hook's hand and waved her arms in the air, trying to get his attention.

"Over here!", she yelled. Hook stirred and drew his arms around her tightly, his right hand grabbing a fistful of her shirt. It felt like he was holding on to her for dear life, like a man drowning. Unbidden, she thought again about what his life must be like.

David spotted her and walked over quickly. Emma saw that he had Mother Superior in tow. When she saw them approach, she tried to get a bit of distance from Hook. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him a little to wake him up. His only reaction was to close the distance between them and snuggle up to her again, nudging his head in between her chin and shoulder. She could not stop the slow grin that spread on her face. The dreaded pirate Hook was behaving more like the adorable puppy dog Hook. She reminded herself that she should not let herself be fooled, for all she knew, the man was a cold-blooded murderer.

David reached them and gave a disapproving glare in their direction. Emma rolled her eyes. Mother Superior had obviously been filled in by David, as she immediately started examining the rope.

After a moment, she stood up, nodding. "The enchantment is not very powerful. It was clearly made to withstand worldly weapons, not the use of magic. I brought something to counteract the effect."

She produced a small vile from her robes, which she immediately poured over the rope. Nothing happened. 

"Hmm", Mother Superior said, deep in thought.

"Don't tell me it's not working", Emma groaned, exasperated.

"No, I think the potion actually took effect. We should be able to cut the rope now."

David picked up the sword leaning against the tree and weighed it in his hand. Then, he made a swift swing at the rope, on the part as far away from Hook and Emma as possible. The thick rope did not come apart completely, but he had cut about halfway through it.

Emma raised an eyebrow at him. "Looks like you need to brush up on your sword skills."

She could see a faint blush appear on her father's face as he made a second swing, this time cutting the rope clean through.

"Help me wake him up."

Both of them lifted Hook together. He stirred and opened his eyes drowsily. Emma wrapped her jacket around him. With David and her supporting him on either side, they started to make their way out of the forest.

"I didn't park far from here. That way." Emma pointed with her free hand.

"We should get him to the hospital."

Emma shook her head. "No, we can't risk Gold finding him. I have an idea."


	2. Chapter 2

Hook collapsed on them on the way to her car, which led Emma to the conclusion that a change in plans was in order. They brought him to the nearby abandoned farm instead. David went back into the woods to collect firewood. Mother Superior took her car back to town to gather supplies like warm blankets and food. Emma had been surprised at the suggestion. It was not that she thought nuns couldn't drive, it was just that she didn't remember ever seeing one do it.

Hook had been deposited in front of the large, but unlit, fireplace, wrapped in Emma's as well as David's thick winter jackets. Emma was currently busy rubbing his feet to get them warm and get the circulation going. She was aware that there was a good chance he could lose one or more toes to the cold, as he had been forced to walk around on the ice-cold ground barefooted.

She wondered what she would have told somebody if they had said to her two years ago that one day she would be rubbing a pirate's feet in an abandoned farm close to a town made by a fairytale curse. She probably would have had them institutionalized. Thank God Hook wasn't conscious at the moment, she was sure he would have had some comment on the feet rubbing.

Hook stirred and Emma thought that the cold floor had probably not been their brightest idea. She knelt down next to his head and lifted his upper body to sit behind him in the same position they had been in before. He immediately snuggled closer to her again.

Emma was perplexed by his behaviour, to say the least. She had kind of expected that he would use the opportunity to cop a feel, but she had not expected this _cuddliness_. It was like he had turned into a completely different person.

While she was still contemplating this, Hook sighed and opened his eyes. They were unfocussed and glazed over, like he was not completely present. 

He lifted his right hand to her face and softly grazed his fingertips over her cheek. It was such an intimate gesture that it made her blush.

"Have I ever told you, milady, that you are breathtakingly beautiful?" The words were slurred but said with such intense feeling that her blush deepened further.

"You're just suffering from hypothermia."

"I don't know what that means, but I can assure you I am in complete command of my senses." His hand dropped and his eyes fell shut again, belying his words.

"Beautiful swan princess", he murmured, then he was out cold once more.

Emma tried to calm her heartbeat which thundered loud in her chest. He should not be able to have this kind of effect on her this easily. She hardly knew him. Furthermore, he probably didn't even know what he was saying. And yet her superpower insisted that he had meant every word of what he'd said. At least, she hoped that was her superpower talking and she wasn't harbouring some sort of affection for the pirate.

Thankfully, David returned with the firewood to distract her from her thoughts. When he saw her on the floor with Hook, he raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. He quickly got a decent fire burning in the large fire place. Emma was very grateful for the heat she could immediately feel on her face and arms.

David stood around awkwardly. He clearly didn't know what else to do, but was hesitant to leave either.

"I'm going to be fine here, David. I can handle one pirate suffering from hypothermia. Trust me."

"I trust you. I don't trust him."

Emma rolled her eyes. "It's fine. You can go. Really. You can catch up with Mother Superior and help her bring back the supplies."

He nodded hesitantly, then turned around slowly and left. When he reached the door, he glanced back, his eyes narrowed. Then he was gone.

* * *

Emma couldn't have said how long they sat like this, with Hook sleeping and her trying very hard not to think about him in any form or shape whatsoever. When he opened his eyes again, they were clearer and more focussed than before.

Emma pulled back, assessing that he was warm enough now and anyway there was a frickin fire place ablaze right next to him. When she moved away, his hand reached for her, but he immediately pulled it back again.

They sat next to each other in front of the fire place, an awkward silence settling between them.

Hook was the first to speak. 

"Thanks." It was just one word, but he somehow managed to put a lot of meaning into it.

Emma glanced over to him and saw that he was staring into the flames thoughtfully. She was startled by how different his face looked in the fire light. It was like a mask had been lifted and there was a completely different man underneath. 

"Don't mention it," she said, meaning it. She didn't really feel like talking about what had happened between them today.

She stood up, stretching her limbs. "So, I think I'm gonna go. David will come by with some supplies for you soon."

Hook looked at her and she was again taken aback by the change in his features. He nodded curtly, then turned back to the fire.

"That won't be necessary. I won't impose on you any further. I'll be on my way shortly."

He stood up unsteadily and Emma could almost pinpoint the exact moment the mask slipped back in place. 

"Don't be silly. You don't even have shoes."

He looked down as if he was noticing that fact for the first time.

"Well, it looks like I am at your mercy." He gave her a cocky grin and Emma rolled her eyes.

"So, tell me, once you have shoes, what are you going to do? Because I really have enough on my hands without you trying to get yourself killed again."

His eyes narrowed. "If you're asking me to just _leave_ the crocodile _be_ , forget it." 

He started to walk away from her, but stumbled on the second step. Emma made a move to keep him from falling and they ended up in an awkward embrace. It went on for a bit longer than necessary and Emma stepped back suddenly.

A smug grin spread over his face. "Can't get enough of touching me, can you?"

Emma rolled her eyes again, but she actually felt relieved. This, at least, was familiar territory.

"Yes, I am overcome with desire", she deadpanned, "Now, can we get back to what we were actually talking about? You going after Gold has only one possible outcome, your demise. And that's a ton of paperwork, given that you don't even exist in this world in the first place, so I'd rather you didn't."

"Your concern is touching." His voice was ice-cold.

It had been a long day. A long and very cold day. Emma really did not have the patience to play this game anymore.

She stepped closer to him and put her hands on his shoulder, looking him straight in the eye. Hook was clearly surprised by her actions.

"Listen to me. You're not going to achieve anything this way. He's a very powerful man. He knows the workings of this world much better than you do. All I'm asking you to do is to let it go for now."

He huffed out a laugh, which did not contain much humour.

"Are you even aware of what you're asking me to do?"

"Yes, I think I am."

He looked doubtful. "Let's say I agree to this. What would I even do? There's nothing for me in this realm." There was an unspoken question at the end of that sentence.

It was a question that Emma had been asking herself, but been unable to find an answer to. Was there something here? She couldn't deny that she felt a certain attraction to him, but after all he was a pirate, probably a murderer, a _villian_. Yet, her instinct told her that there was more to him than that.

It was clear that he was waiting for an answer. She thought for a moment to deny everything, like she had been trying to do in the past. But what if he ended up dead because she didn't have the courage to give him at least a glimmer of hope for a different path?

She made a decision and acted quickly, before she had a chance to change her mind. She took his right hand in her left. His eyes widened in surprise. Her voice was soft but very serious.

"There may be nothing for you in this realm right now. But there might be, one day." She paused, then added. "If you don't get yourself killed in the meantime, that is."

Then she quickly turned around and fled the scene, knowing that David would bring him everything he needed.

Hook looked after her, a small smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this went into a completely different direction than what I had originally envisioned. Still, I'm quite happy with the final result. Please let me know what you think.


End file.
